On Tuesday, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2024, President Draupadi Murmu presented National Awards for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities to 33 individuals and organizations. Two of them were Punekars – Prathamesh Sinha and Priyanka Dabde-Kataria.
“This award is not just for me – it is for everyone who believes in their ability to overcome challenges,” Prathamesh told The Indian Express. “We celebrated this award in a small way by eating samosas as a family. Actions are still going on. I will celebrate properly when I return to Pune tomorrow,’ he added.
A day after the award ceremony, the winners were on a Delhi tour, visiting the capital’s historical sites. “Rajghat was a great experience, the best part is that it is accessible to special people. There are also braille boards,” says Prathamesh, an aspiring IAS officer.
“We talk about infrastructure development in our country. No one understands better how to develop infrastructure for people with special disabilities than people with special disabilities. The government should make a policy to check access to infrastructure by people with special abilities,’ he says.
Prathamesh, the youngest recipient of the award at the age of 13, soon faced serious challenges. After being diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 16 months, he lost his sight at the age of eight. His mother, Deepshikha Sinha, remembers those days as “devastating”. “I would say to other parents who are dealing with a child with a disability, it’s normal to feel depressed. But try to accept the situation and whatever gives you strength, whether it’s spirituality or self-motivation or whatever. Try to fix it by talking. It is very important for a mother to be strong, otherwise how can she make her child strong,” she adds.
“When we got the mail that Prathamesh had been shortlisted for the National Award, I was on cloud nine. This is a proud moment for our family. This award shows the world what a person can achieve despite challenges like blindness,” she says.
After facing rejection from mainstream schools, Prathamesh was home-schooled until 2019 when he joined the Poona Blind School. Collaborating with Bengaluru-based Thinkerbell Labs, Prathamesh became the chief advocate of their ANNIE device, which helps the blind learn Braille independently. His work gained national attention when he presented the device to Shark Tank India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Now he studies in a regular school. “What has brought me so far is accepting things. I accept everything and move on and I don’t dwell on negativity. I am a deep believer in spirituality. Many people think that spirituality is something that will end your problems but no, It’s something that gives you the strength to face problems. I’m spiritual in that respect,” he said.
The pursuit of excellence
Her LinkedIn profile describes her as just a teacher, but 32-year-old Priyanka Dabe-Kataria is actually an achiever. Priyanka has been honored several times by the Center for winning the silver medal and excellence medal in the embroidery skill category at the 10th International Paralympics, a global skills competition for persons with disabilities (PWD) held in Metz, France in 2023. Government. She went to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to meet the President last year and to receive the award again on Tuesday.
‘I am very excited and honored to receive the national award,’ she told her brother Omkar Dabe in sign language. Priyanka was hearing and speech and bone disabled since birth. “She was in a mainstream school for kindergarten where there were no other specially-abled people. She was scared and people used to tease her. Later, after grade 10, she joined a school for the deaf. After that, it was an open school, where, again, She felt out of place. This time, she wanted to do something that would make her family proud of her. She wanted to achieve a big goal and started working hard for it,” says Omkar.
Priyanka studied till class 10 and joined the fashion design course at Nanavati Institute of MKSSS and later iNIFD Pune. Crafts, especially embroidery, became Priyanka’s vehicle. She participated in extracurricular activities and competitions like painting. She enrolled in a silver jewelery making course and won a national award but opted for hand embroidery for specialization.
Mother Sushma Dabade used to support Priyanka when she felt low. After the death of her husband when the children were young, Sushma raised Priyanka and Omkar alone. “My mother used to support him and give him strength,” says Omkar. He got married in March 2024.
Priyanka, a teacher at Pune’s YMCA Garland Craig Memorial School for the Deaf, still lives by her faith. “It requires empathy, not empathy. There are no shortcuts to success. A combination of systematic, persistent effort, strong will can turn any dream into reality,” she said, adding, “No matter what your challenges are, everyone deserves respect and She envisions a world where she can live with dignity.